Dávid Molnár is a C3 Professional who is a highly accomplished 5A player, being the EYYC14 Champion. Proving his skill at many competitions, Dávid is a well respected and easily recognized face in both the European scene as well as the community worldwide. Dávid and I had the chance to talk tricks, contests, his new signature yoyo, and more!

Dávid, as the 5A Champion of EYYC14, contest organizer, and C3 Professional you’ve definitely proved yourself in yoyoing so far. How did you first start yoyoing?

I got my first yoyo in the summer of 2007, but managed to break it within a week. So, I count December 2007 as the beginning. One of my classmates had a yoyo, and I saw him doing Double Trapeze. I was mindblown, and that was the moment I decided to start.

That’s interesting, I think I broke some yoyos too when I first started. How did you first learn tricks back then?

I think everybody breaks at least 1 yoyo in his career 🙂 In the beginning, I was watching YouTube for the first couple of months. After that, it turned out that there are meetings in Budapest every weekend. I joined them, and they were very friendly and helpful.

What were some of your favorite tricks then?

I didn’t have any favorite trick, but I loved all kind of slacks- Follow, for example. Interesting fact…I hated 5A back then.

Wow, that’s surprising! How long was it after you started yoyoing that you first tried 5A?

It was at a 2008 New Years Eve party. We had a yoyo party at a players home. Dana Bennett was studying in Hungary back than, and he was there too, showing off some tricks. Completely changed my attitude towards 5A. Not even half a year passed, and I won the first 5A division I was competing at, and in December 2009 I became the 5A Hungarian National Champion.

That’s so awesome, would you say you learned 5A pretty quickly then?

I think I learned the basics fast, but we all are still learning.

Did you have any inspirations in 5A/1A back then?

In 5A I was watching Petr Kavka, Tyler Severance, Dana Bennett, Takuma Inoue, and in 1A Guy Wright, Yuuki Spencer, Sebastian Brock. Mostly USA guys, but nowdays I almost only watch Japan/Asia players and some upcoming talents from the USA. Some of my biggest inspiration comes from Hiroyasu Ishihara, Soujun Miyamura and still Takuma Inoue.

Those are all inspirational yoyoers in my opinion too. At what point did you decide to start competing?

I decided to start competing from the first second I found out that there are competitions in Hungary.

What was your first contest?

My first was August of 2008. Offline Sport Games in Hungary, and I got Semi-Pro 5th out of more than 20 players.

That’s really impressive for your first contest. If you had to pick, do you think it’s harder to compete in 1A or 5A?

It is very hard to compete in 1A, since there are the most players, and it is the division most people admire, but most of the time I just enjoy myself on the stage. But since I have chosen 5A to be my main division, I have a huge pressure in the division even at the smallest contest I attend.

That’s true, I know what you mean. I think it would be hard to compete in different divisions at the same contest. When it comes to tricks, how do you make your tricks up?

I don’t really have a method. Sometimes I watch videos, and when there is a move I really like I stand up, and try to figure out something from it. Sometimes, I just open a bottle of wine, put some chill music on and start to play, and the trick comes by itself. I invent a lot of moves, or mounts, but I throw most of them away if I don’t find them good enough for competition.

That’s awesome, I think that everyone has their own method to creating tricks but it’s really what works best for someone that helps make a trick good. How long does it take to prepare for a contest?

For me it all depends on when I can choose the music. I always build my freestlyle on the music. Most of the time, I can only find music during the last week before the competition, but in the meantime I practice the tricks a lot. I have the order in my mind, and I just change it a little to fit the music.

Did you plan on taking 1st in 5A at EYYC14?

I really wanted to win this year to show what great yoyoing it is, so I practiced a lot. It turned out that I did well since I won with about +17% compared to second place. I was really happy.

That is really good, I would definitely say that it was a well deserved win. On another note, how did you end up getting sponsored by C3?

Actually, I was in Turning Point first. I quit from them in June 2012, and right after I quit was when official C3YoYoDesign offered me a place. They only had a few yoyo back then, but they were amazing people with great goals, so I decided to join them.

What was the process like in putting together your new signature yoyo from them?

For my signature yoyo, I just told them what I like and what I want it to play like. Ron got my proto designed in December, we changed a few things by January, and I was sent some samples to try. I loved it, so they went to final production, and they turned out even better than the prototype. I would like to mention Balint ‘Vooper’ Farkas for helping me to find the perfect name for the yoyo.

That sounds like a pretty painless process to me, I really like the name too. Lastly, do you have any advice for any aspiring yoyoer in any division?

I would recommend to watch lot of videos, go to lots of contests and meet other players. Try to develop your own style no matter what division, set a goal for yourself, and don’t stop practicing until you have reached it. Then, it is time for a short break, and to have new goals. Thank you very much for the interview Matt.

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Janos Karancz, 2013 EYYC 1A Champion, shows off the new Duncan Flipside yoyo. Between this, the C3YoYoDesign Alpha Crash, and the upcoming plastic yoyo from CLYW, it’s looking like a pretty good year for performance plastic yoyos. Considering YoYoFactory’s huge range of performance plastic models and their “Death to Metal” campaign from a few years ago, it looks like other companies are finally catching on and giving the market more low-cost alteratives to performance metal yoyos.

The Duncan Flipside yoyo features reversible spacers and a spare bearing, allowing you to flip from a standard Duncan small bearing to a larger one for unresponsive, modern play. As you can see from this video, in the right hands it works really well.

Tonight at 10:00 PM EST the LOOP 1080 releases at YoYoExpert as part of Wave 2 of the YoYoFactory Champions Collection. Retail price is $23.99 each.

This highly anticipated yo-yo was designed with input from World Yo-Yo Champion Shu Takada and was already used to win the 2012 National Yo-Yo Contest by Patrick Mitchell. The Loop 1080 has improved weight distribution and a fully centered adjustment mechanism, giving it a completely different feel and improved performance from the much-vaunted (and highly impressive) Loop 900.

YoYoFactory seems to have finally cracked the secret of the perfect looping yoyo without requiring modification…how many world and national titles do you think the Loop 1080 will bring in 2013?